The Georgia Board of Nursing consists of eight members appointed by the Governor and is responsible for the regulation of registered professional nurses and advanced practice registered nurses.

The Board is comprised of seven registered professional nurses and an eighth consumer member. The Board develops rules and regulations that set the standards for nursing practice and education, provide the minimum qualifications for licensure, and ensure that disciplinary process is implemented in a fashion that guarantees due process and public protection. http://www.sos.georgia.gov/plb/rn/ (accessed on 22.04.2009)

The legal framework (Article) for the Georgia Board of Nursing is "Georgia Registered Professional Nurse Practice Act." Title 43, Chapter 26 – Nurses, Article 1. The purpose of the article is to protect, promote, and preserve the public health, safety, and welfare through legislative regulation and control of registered professional nursing, education and practice. This article ensures that any person practicing or offering to practice nursing or using the title registered professional nurse, as defined in the article, within the State of Georgia, shall be licensed. http://sos.georgia.gov/acrobat/PLB/laws/38_RN_43-26.pdf (accessed on 22.04.2009)

Health System

Health care in the United States is mainly provided in the private sector (both for profit and non-profit) and to a lesser degree by public funding for the poor, elderly, disabled, children and veterans. The United States does not have a universal health care system.

In the United States expenditure on health care in actual dollars and as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and on a per-capita basis is greater, than in any other nation in the world. The World Health Organisation reports that in 2005 the US total expenditure on health as 15 % of GDP and that the total expenditure on health per capita was $US6350. http://www.who.int/countries/usa/en/ (accessed on 22.04.2009).

In 2006, around 84% of US citizens had some form of health insurance and about 16% of the population, or 47 million Americans were without health insurance coverage. http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/p60-233.pdf (accessed on 22.04.2009).

The number of acute care hospital beds in the United Statesin 2000 was 2.9 per 1 000 population. Bed numbers have declined and this coincides with a reduction in average length of stays in hospitals and an increase in day-surgery patients. The United States has among the lowest average lengths of stay for most procedures. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/20/48/16502658.pdf (accessed on 22.04.2009).